The largest of the Mariana islands in the South Pacific, the
self-governing U.S. territory of Guam has a population that is mostly Roman
Catholic. Guam became a U.S. possession on 21 June 1898 following the
Spanish-American War.

There are no records of missionary activity on Guam or visits by
Latter-day Saints prior to World War II. The first known members on Guam
came with the U.S. armed forces during the war. Servicemen's groups
numbering from 50 to 300 members existed on Guam from 1944- 1945.

Families were able to join their servicemen stationed in Guam as early
as 1946 and all of the groups were consolidated into one Guam Servicemen's
Group. Membership grew steadily and all auxiliaries were fully organized
when the Guam Branch, with Victor Olson as president, was formed under the
direction of the Japanese Mission on 9 October 1951. Soon members raised
enough money to purchase land and two quonset huts in Anigua, to be used
for a meetinghouse. Prior to this, meetings were held in military
facilities.

The branch was transferred to the Southern Far East Mission when the
Japanese Mission was divided in July 1955. The first full time
missionaries, Dannie T. Gallego and Paul R. Ray, arrived in January 1957.
Elder Mark E. Petersen of the Quorum of the Twelve dedicated the Guam
Branch meetinghouse on 18 June 1959. The Guam Branch became part of the
Honolulu Stake on 15 October 1959 and missionary work was assumed by branch
members called as stake missionaries.

Land for another meetinghouse was purchased in April 1964. On 3 March
1970, the Guam Branch became a ward in the Honolulu Stake and a new
meetinghouse in Barrigada was dedicated on 10 March 1970 by Elder Ezra Taft
Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve. Full-time missionary work in Guam
resumed on 7 July 1970 when Michael D. Corrigan and Vern H. Liljenquist
were assigned to work there by Hawaiian Mission president Kenneth W.
Gardner. There had been no full-time missionaries in Guam since becoming
part of the Honolulu Stake due mostly to distance. Guam is separated from
Hawaii by 3,300 miles of ocean. Missionary work expanded at that time to
include the native Charorro people besides American servicemen.

The Honolulu Stake was divided on 21 November 1971, and the ward became
part of the newly created Kaneohe Stake. The ward was divided in May 1976.
The two wards shared the same meetinghouse in Barrigada. The first
Chamorro couple to join the Church, Donald and Maria Calvo, were baptized
on 21 May 1977. The Agat Branch was created in the southern part of Guam
in 1978. In 1979, Herbert J. Leddy, the first missionary of Chamorro
lineage, was called to the Tennessee Nashville Mission.

The Micronesia Guam Mission was created on 1 April 1980. In 1989,
selections of the Book of Mormon were translated into Chamorro, and that
same year, Herbert J. Leddy became the first Chamorro member to be called
as district president. The Barrigada Central Branch was created in January
1992 to meet the needs of an influx of Micronesian Church members coming to
Guam.

President Gordon B. Hinckley visited Guam on 31 January 2000 while on a
tour of Pacific Rim countries. He was welcomed to Agana by Carl Gutierrez,
governor of Guam, along with 684 Church members. President Hinckley's
address was carried to a meetinghouse on the island of Saipan via telephone
connection. He recounted visiting Guam in 1965 with Elder Hugh B. Brown
and meeting with only fifteen members at the time.

In 2005, membership was 1,669.

Sources: Servicemen's Group (Orote, Guam), Meeting minutes and
attendance records, 1944- 1946, Church Archives; Servicemen's Group (Nob
Hill), Meeting minutes and attendance records, 1946, Church Archives;
Servicemen's Group (Guam), Meeting minutes and attendance records,
1947-1948, Church Archives; Japanese Mission, Manuscript history and
historical reports, Church Archives; Southern Far East Mission, Manuscript
history and historical reports, Church Archives; Honolulu Stake, Manuscript
history and historical reports, Church Archives; Guam 1st Ward, Manuscript
history and historical reports, Church Archives; Kaneohe Hawaii Stake,
Manuscript history and historical records; Church Archives; Guam District,
Manuscript history and historical reports, Church Archives; Alan E. Muller,
"A historical account of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on
Guam," 1955, Church Archives; Micronesia Guam Mission, A Brief History of
the Micronesia-Guam Mission, 1980-1990, Church Archives; R. Lanier Britsch,
Unto the Islands of the Sea, 1986.